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Colts receive first round bye with No. 2 seed in state playoffs

By Danny Udero DUDERO@SCSUN-NEWS.COM

Posted:
11/13/2012 01:22:03 PM MST

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Silver High quarterback Derek Salas will get another crack at the state football playoffs, as his Fighting Colts were seeded second. Silver will sit an wait to see who it will play in the quarterfinals.

SILVER CITY After winning the District 3-3A football championship, Silver High School was seeded second in the Class 3A New Mexico High School State Football Championships. The Fighting Colts earned a first-round bye in the event that begins Friday, and they will play the winner of No. 7 Socorro and No. 10 Albuquerque Academy.

You have to play them all and win them all from here on out, head coach Butch Branson said. It s a cliché, but I don t really watch the rankings that much. The important thing about where we were seeded is the bye week. It s a long season and our coaches and kids are wore down a little bit. We are going to take this week to get ready for the playoffs.

Branson gave his squad off Monday and Friday. He stated that lifting, cardio and concentrating on the things that the Colts do right is something that will take place the rest of the week. Not knowing who Silver will face in the next round isn t all that bad, as the Colts are well aware of what Socorro has to offer. But, Branson said he didn t know much about Academy, and he will be making a trip to Socorro on Friday night to scout them.

I heard that Academy has four skill players coming back that should help them, Branson said. We know Socorro very well, but we don t know anything about Academy. Having a couple of weeks to prepare for someone is nice, but we are going to concentrate on what we do well, and eliminate the things that we don t. It s time to fine tune.

The Colts have already beaten Socorro and Ruidoso this year and may see both schools again in the next two rounds. Silver defeated both teams decisively, and there is already talk of a rematch between Silver and St. Michael s for the state title.

We ve already heard talk about revenge, Branson said. It s still very early for any of that. We are concerned about us getting better this week.
Last year the Colts fell to Lovington on the road in the semifinals after beating Robertson in the quarterfinals. Branson said this year s team has new players and a new personality, and last year s loss is a distant memory.

Every team takes on their own persona, Branson said. We have replaced a lot of starters from last year s team. We played very well against Lovington last year, and there were certain circumstances that we had to go through and we accepted that.

Branson said this year s team doesn t back down for anyone, and they will compete with anyone, guaranteed.

Against Deming we had five starters out, and we still competed very well, Branson said. Our kids have that proper mindset, and there isn t any quit in any of us.

Against St. Michael s, we played a team that was averaging fifty plus points per game, Branson added. They came out of Silver very fortunate to get a win. We aren t going to lay down for anyone.

Silver s two losses came to Deming and St. Michael s on the year, but the Colts did beat Hope Christian, Ruidoso and Socorro who are in the tournament. The Colts seed certainly on paper looks like it benefits them, but Branson knows you still have to go out and play the game each week.

We got a lot of work ahead of us, Branson said. We are going to get some rest this week, and fine tune ourselves. But, rest assured that we will go hard the rest of the way, and we will wait to see who will come to Silver City and face us in the next round.